In March 2007, Congressmen Souder and Brian Baird (D-WA) introduced H.R. 1731, the National Park Centennial Act.
The National Park Centennial Act is designed to make the National Park System healthy by its 100th anniversary in 2016. The goals of the act are to: (1) eliminate the national park maintenance backlog; (2) better enable the National Park Service to protect the natural and cultural resources that parks were created to preserve; and (3) enable the Congress to eliminate the annual $600 million operations shortfall throughout the National Park System while retaining congressional oversight over Park Service operations.
Eliminating the backlog: The bill would eliminate the non-road maintenance backlog throughout the Park System by 2016. The remaining backlog should be addressed under reauthorizations of the Transportation Equity Act, under which park road expenditures are already authorized.
Preserving Cultural and Natural Resources in the Parks: The bill would create a permanent funding stream for a portion of the Natural Resource Challenge, currently underway in the national parks, while also creating a new Cultural Resource Challenge.
Meeting Operational Needs: The bill ultimately frees up the $600 million needed to enable congressional appropriators to fully fund the annual operational needs of the national parks, while keeping appropriators in charge of oversight related to Park Service operations.
The National Park Centennial Act accomplishes these goals by:
Creating a new, off-budget, income tax check-off dedicated to funding the national park centennial account, including a modest authorization to publicize the existence of the National Park Centennial Fund
Supplementing from general revenues the difference between the amounts authorized for the Centennial Fund and those received from the tax check-off
Directing 60% of the moneys from the Centennial Fund toward eliminating the non-road backlog in the national parks, using the new NPS Facility Condition Index as a guide
Providing for parks to determine certain facilities should be eliminated rather than repaired through analyses under the parks’ general management plans
Directing natural and cultural resources challenge funds toward parks that have completed business plans
Authorizing the National Park Service to receive funds provided under the Homeland Security Act
Providing discretionary grants for schools to work with national parks to educate the country’s youth about science and American history
Providing that funds made available by the Act are intended to supplement, not detract from, annual appropriations for the Park Service
|
